11 for ’11: James Tour on energy

During the holiday season I’ve invited 11 of the greater Houston area’s top scientific minds to share a few words on something — a trend, a discovery or an insight — in their field that excites them as they look ahead to the next few years. A new entry in the 11 for ’11 series will be published each morning.

Today’s insight comes from James Tour, a professor of mechanical engineering, materials science and computer science at Rice University.

One of the most exciting prospects for the physical sciences in the next few years is the intense research and development effort that is likely to ensue as society strives to balance the drive toward a clean-energy future with the political and economic realities of our carbon-energy presence.

For good or ill, we will get most of our power from fossil fuels for many years to come. As recently as 2007, the world used 133 times more energy from fossil fuels than from solar, geothermal and wind. Fortunately, there is a way to bridge from our carbon presence to our renewable future. The key is to make carbon dioxide a useful commodity, one that is so valuable that it won’t make economic sense to dispose of it as gaseous waste.

While pumping carbon dioxide into the ground, either for carbon sequestration or enhanced oil recovery, offers some benefit, it pales in comparison with the societal benefits of sustainable-energy-generated methods for converting CO2 into a useful product used in fixed materials such as plastic building products.

Sharon Steinmann/Chronicle

The key reaction chemistries needed to be solved are: (a) the efficient splitting of water using sunlight and a catalyst to form hydrogen, H2, and oxygen, O2; and (b) the reduction of CO2 to methanol or formaldehyde using the water-generated H2. The answers to this might come from nanotechnology, chemical engineering, organic chemistry or some other field. They might be the result of focused, applied investigation, or just as likely, as unexpected windfalls of basic science.

I am excited about the technologies that will result — and the economic benefits that will flow — from increased scientific funding for this research.

Ultimately, we will need many new technologies, materials and processes if we are to more cleanly obtain the energy that we need from carbon while simultaneously preserving and converting the coal, gas and oil sectors for production of high-value chemicals.